Stolen Hors D'oeuvre
by Elphaba'sGirl
Summary: "Nessa met Baley exactly eight days into July. If I remember correctly, she said his exact first words to her were "By Oz, you're in a wheelchair." I was informed of this when she was preparing for bed that night, and launched into a furious rant about the "absolutely incorrigible boy" she'd met. "


**Whoa, this is my first oneshot in what seems like forever, though it can't have been that long, right? **

**Disclaimer: Wicked isn't mine, no matter what my flying monkeys say.**

**I love writing about Nessarose, though I have difficulty writing from her POV, so I always end up making it third person, and I decided I'd try Elphaba's POV ****_about_**** Nessa... This happened.**

**Enjoy! I'll update AEG soon,**

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Nessa met Baley exactly eight days into July. It was during a party- one of several dozen thrown by father the summer she graduated from high school- and, as she told me later, she had escaped into the garden after my argument with the abhorrent Sir Escargot (this wasn't actually his name, but last I heard he was on a steady snail diet, so Nessa and I referred to him as many insulting nicknames in private. She really isn't as prim as she's made out to be, at least in private). This is, of course, typical Nessarose behavior, but I suppose no one but father and I would know that.

If I remember correctly, she said his exact first words to her were "By Oz, you're in a wheelchair." I was informed of this when she was preparing for bed that night, and launched into a furious rant about the "absolutely _incorrigible_ boy" she'd met.

Apparently, he'd been dared by his friends to go sneak into the Governor's party, as they hadn't been invited. I can only assume that Nessa's chair startled him because he'd just climbed over a three meter wall, and planned to steal a few crab cakes (which were delicious) and get out, only to be found by Father's most precious daughter.

He likely wasn't thinking, which seems to be a common occurrence amongst boys from the ages thirteen to twenty-three, in my experience.

But this, to Nessa, who was a reserved girl of seventeen, was practically unforgivable.

That being said, had it been I who found him instead of Nessa, I'd have had him thrown out immediately, assuming he didn't faint from fright upon seeing me.

It was enough, however, for my sister's tirade to last until I finally left her that night, and she swore that if she never saw him again it'd be too soon.

Of course, the following Saturday, when Frex once again hosted a party (less extravagant than the previous, if I remember correctly, the Duke of Gillikin and his prissy little daughter were in town) she once again retreated to the garden, where the offensive Baley was- apparently- eating a stolen hors d'oeuvres.

He proceeded to insult her dress, calling it ugly or something equally offensive to any lady. He made several comments to her, all completely insulting, and this induced a follow-up rant, which I had to sit through.

It must have occurred to her at some point that his sneaking into the mansion during parties was not a one-time thing, and yet she continued excusing herself a bit early and heading out to the garden.

I suppose she'd failed to mention in the past that Baley's blunt comments were not limited to insults, but also compliments.

I believe his exact words, on the night of father's sixth party that summer, were "I think, Nessarose, that I'd like to kiss you." Nessa, of course, frowned upon the omission of an honorific or such title, as well as the general announcement.

But, there was no rant that evening, though I did notice when I helped her get ready for bed that she was a bit bolder in her speech, and her cheeks were a bit flushed from the embarrassment of simply being told, without any romantic moment whatsoever, that a boy "would like to kiss" her.

With each social engagement that my father held, the color of her clothes grew a bit bolder; the soft rose dress she'd worn the night Baley had insulted her attire had been shoved to the back of the closet, and was gathering dust, and she'd taken to wearing deep red more often.

I heard nothing of the boy she tried so hard to avoid for several weeks, until one night she gushed as she told me about her first kiss.

As it turned out, the "incorrigible" Baley _could_ be a gentleman, and he'd omitted his standard blunt conversation and asked shyly, "Nessa,would you mind too terribly if I kissed you?"

Nessa, though she'd explained the exact and precise circumstances that she imagined her first kiss under to me many times before, (it involved rain, and an umbrella, and stars, or some similar things), agreed. She kissed him, she said, under what had been mother's favorite apple tree, and his lips still tasted of stolen hors d'oeuvres, and she was so very happy.

She swore to me, that night, that she would marry him one day.

Then the summer ended, and we Thropp girls headed off to Shiz (I, of course, was more excited than she, having spent the first two years of my collage experience at the absolutely loathsome Munchkin University).

Nessa wrote to Baley twice a week for the first month, but the horrendible boy never responded.

He had, presumably, moved on. Long-distance relationships are hard to maintain, or so I've heard.

Nessa never spoke of him again, and when his engagement to Manda Julliard was announced over holidays three summers later, (this was after my visit to the Emerald City, and subsequent events), she was far too preoccupied with keeping Boq close to her to care so much.

She was afraid of letting Boq go, as she had with Baley. He'd been her first- and only, though I was the only one she'd told _that_ bit to- love. And a girl likes to think that their first love loves them, too.

I think- and I don't say this often- that I was just lucky in that department.


End file.
